Dominic Perrottet has resigned as leader of the Liberal Party as Chris Minns becomes the next premier of NSW after voters allowed the Labor Party to form a likely majority government.
“The people of New South Wales voted to put in a government that put people at the heart of all decision-making, and we will not let them down,” Minns told supporters on Saturday night after he received a congratulatory call from Perrottet.
Minns thanked Perrottet for his service and said that the “respect and civility” in this campaign was a model for the way democracy can be “done right” across the country.
“I can’t say that every election campaign in the future will be conducted the same way but, from now on, no-one will be able to say that it can’t be,” he said.
The outcome was a “decisive vote” against privatisation, Minns declared.
“To retain Sydney Water and Essential Energy in the NSW government and to put it into the constitution and to never sell it and stop the future governments from selling the assets that we need to live, thrive and survive in New South Wales,” he said.
Some key losses for the Liberals include former trade minister Stuart Ayres’ seat of Penrith, Riverstone, Heathcote, East Hills, Monaro, Parramatta and South Coast.
Seats like Willoughby and Pittwater saw a weaker turnout for the Coalition, and could be called beyond this evening’s count deadline, while Treasurer Matt Kean remains hopeful the seat of Ryde could still be in play.
Crikey was at the Liberal event at the Hilton in Sydney’s CBD, the Greens party at the Annandale Hotel in the city’s inner west, and Labor’s celebration in Bright-Le-Sands.
The Liberal function was a sombre affair — one supporter told another that it looked like a “chainsaw massacre” as the results rolled in. Former prime minister John Howard arrived to the sounds of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” followed by the outgoing premier who conceded defeat and offered kind words about Minns.
Perrottet told the crowd the Liberals and Nationals had made history by serving 12 years in office and keeping NSW “strong, free and fair”.
“Our record is one of infrastructure, of investment, of imagination,” he said.
“We have rebuilt this state from the ground up with the biggest building agenda since Federation.”
He warned supporters of the Liberal Party that the next chapter would “not be easy but it will be necessary” before resigning as leader of the party.
Reporters were directed to a media pen at the event but at the Greens function journalists were allowed to roam free-range.
There, Greens federal Senator Mehreen Faruqi introduced returned NSW MLC Cate Faehrmann who told the crowd the Greens had increased their vote.
“More people have come to the Greens than they have in any previous election,” she said to cheers.
But despite the swing towards the party, the Greens look unlikely to convert those gains into more seats.
It was a disappointing night for One Nation. After being hyped in friendly sections of the media as a potential major player in the new Parliament, the Mark Latham-led wing of the far-right party looks like it will only pick up one seat despite a small increase in primary vote.
As projections started to roll in, moderate Liberals offered their post-mortems. Federal Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg told the ABC that the key takeaway from both the 2022 federal election and this evening’s result was that the Coalition should dispense with “culture war” issues and return focus to city voters.
Over on Sky News, the takeaway was the opposite: the party had let down the right wing of its party, and it would do them well to head further into the margins.
Hoping Crikey reports on the chasm between the political journalism framing of this election and the reality of the result.
We were told, incessantly, by certain outlets that it would be tight, that Minns might lose his own seat, a LNP minority gov was almost inevitable.
All this in spite of multiple polls, betting odds and other indicators to the contrary.
Exactly like other state and federal elections.
Now, I don’t believe there’s a conspiracy but I am concerned that our experts can get these things so wrong, so repeatedly.
What does this say about their coverage of other issues? It makes it very difficult to have faith that the fourth estate is doing what it should. Holding power to account and informing the population.
Why don’t you believe there’s a conspiracy? It’s there as obviously as the nose on your face. It’s a conspiracy and we actually know who’s running it.
I could have put it this way…
I don’t believe there’s a conspiracy *between different media orgs (ABC, 9Fax, NewsCorp, 7 etc)* but I do believe there’s a systemic bias across those orgs towards the LNP.
Looking at the quality of post election analysis this morning, they’re still crap.
The fourth-estate responsibilities are in tension with the commercial imperatives – to create dramatic interest, and get ratings/clicks. This is not new, but the willingness of some to engage in plot management has risen to new heights.
Sky is the most egregious example. They hate that Perrottet and Minns were on the same course to contest the election in a manner of decency rather than as a gangland fight. “I can’t say that every election campaign in the future will be conducted the same way [with respect and civility] but, from now on, no-one will be able to say that it can’t be.” This paused the Sky pugilists momentarily but they were soon back to script .
After the 2022 Fed election I shared the view that the Liberal Party needed to tune out to the SkyAD freakshow. Too many in the party were still agitated by their agenda in NSW (as observed from afar) but the case against Sky’s division-for-engagement strategy is now even stronger.
That Sky feeds free-to-air in the regions might be seen as having some impact there (the low-education/anti-elite subset, not so much the sea-changers and tree-changers) but they won’t win elections on that basis.
SAD being pumped free into the regions might have something to do with our most decentralised state producing the Pauline’s et al.
Not as effective in Victoria, for example, where regional folk like my elderly father mainline that stuff everyday. He now lives in fear of African gangs and Muslims despite living in one of the most homogeneous towns in Australia. Can recite all talking points on cue too.
But as you say, not enough votes out there to turn an election, esp when they’re already predominantly LNP.
“SAD being pumped free into the regions might have something to do with our most decentralised state producing the Pauline’s et al.”
Can that be so? Pauline got going long before SAD was available on free to air. Wasn’t she first kicked out of the Liberal Party and had to run as an independent around the time Hewson was the Liberal leader. Also, hasn’t it lost most of its seats in the QLD Parliament over time? It also took a drubbing in the last QLD election if I remember correctly.
The Newscorpse media have taken the Liberal Party hostage and the Dirty Fossils have the Nat’s.
The ABC have been beaten into self- censorship.
Very good point. US media likewise. Trump was never going to beat Hillary. Then Biden was far too old to beat Trump. I’m taking comfort in the fact that because journalists now seem to think DeSantis is a strong candidate, he will lose.
The main problem is that the decision to change a person’s vote was probably made a long dud deal ago.
The swinging voter stopped talking or trying to explain.
I think it’s super that the brainiacs at Sky are encouraging Liberals with the bizarre idea that they aren’t quite right-wing enough. They’ll be out of power for decades if they keep going down that road.
Reminds me of the infamous Hitchens line on Libertarians: “I have always found it quaint and rather touching that there is a movement in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”
No, the problem was the new cuddly smiling Herr Dutton wasn’t prominent enough in NSW.
A cuddle from Dutton? Surely there are laws against that kind of abuse.
There are for children, puppies and kittens.
For us have a look in the Assault sections of the Crimes Act.
Der Sturmbahnfuhrer was otherwise engaged in opening a non-optional, round-the-clock, entertainment facility for those who wished to voluntarily work them selves to death……………………..
Then Barnaby should have helped.
This finally marks the end of the John Howard era in this country. It’s up to us what we can build from here. The LNP can go to Tasmania, Macquarie Island, Antarctica and f..k themselves even further.
Still trying to work out which is the Bokor animating the zombie Johnny Eyebrows……………..
……….why the necessity of exhuming him for every election?
And if they must do so, at least scrape the cemetery mud off before winding the clockwork.
Well he’s unremarkable in the way that this election victory was unremarkable. His unremarkability entrenched neoliberalism and its mundane hubris into the Australian psyche for a generation. The process of unwinding that is equally unremarkable it seems, so unremarkable that all the great thinkers have missed it, same as they did the first time with neoliberalism when Johnny unpacked it and put it on the mantelpiece next to grandmas long dead unticking clock. Suddenly the clock has started ticking again. It might even chime again one day.
It was the Paul-bearer who put neo-liberalism on our collective mantelpiece. The Rodent just kept it wound.
The version of Neo-liberalism that Paul Keating brought to us was tempered by the accord or agreement that sufficient taxation would be raised to ensure an acceptable level of Social Security.
Not RoboDebt or outsourcing the payment section for Medicare which systematically pays 10% less than the amount claimed, if they pay at all.
He still refers to the Liberal Party as “His”.
We all know that the carcass of what was the Liberal Party is all that is left.
Thank goodness for the Teals.
One message for Dutton from this?
‘He should have campaigned more in Victoria and NSW?
…. Look how his state Coalition counterparts lost, without his ‘helping them’?
Let’s see how much he “helps” with the upcoming by-election
What defines “remarkability” in an election?
Who defines “remarkability” in an election?